Frustrated by the pace of Palm Beach County’s long-term plan to manage Singer Island’s beach erosion, Riviera Beach officials are launching an emergency dune replacement project.
The city set aside $77,000 in May to hire Baird, a West Palm Beach-based coastal engineering company, to design the project and help secure a state permit to start the work right away.
The project area stretches 1.2 miles from the Cote D’Azur condominiums, just north of Ocean Reef Park, to the Water Glades, the northernmost condominiums on Singer Island.
The cost of the beach restoration could reach $6 million, according to city records.
Riviera Beach City Council Member Glen Spiritis told Stet News the value of the real estate on the island reaches into the billions.
Singer Island’s shoreline has experienced severe erosion in recent years, with waves crashing against seawalls at the mean high water line, according to the engineering company’s proposal.
As the beach continues to erode, residents have less beachfront to enjoy, and the nesting turtle population sees “a distinct drop,” environmental engineer and Singer Island resident Sue Melamud said.
She said the individual condominiums in the 17 buildings in the affected area range in price from $600,000 to $4 million.
“I love my home and I want to protect it,” she said.
Barrier islands such as Singer Island absorb wave energy before it reaches the mainland. This generally means smaller storm surges on the coast while leaving barrier islands more vulnerable to severe erosion.
“We not only protect Riviera Beach, we (also) protect North Palm Beach,” Spiritis said.
Palm Beach County is working with Riviera Beach to pursue a long-term solution. County officials presented their plan to residents in December.
Foth, an engineering firm based in Green Bay, Wis., is leading a study of a more lasting way to shore up the Singer Island beach.
Foth’s Steve Howard outlined multiple structural options: a T-head groin field, low-profile groins, breakwaters and segmented breakwaters. Howard said the engineering team will winnow options based on the cost, stability and whether they can obtain a permit for them.
Their plan includes at least five years of study and relies on state and federal permitting.
Homeowners push back
The Singer Island Environmental Committee, with the Community Officers Association of Singer Island have been sounding the alarm for years and started gathering signatures for a petition in 2024. The organizations submitted the signed petitions from hundreds of residents to Palm Beach County commissioners on March 9.
“Our residents are very concerned, disappointed, and disheartened at the county’s failure to honor its 10-year agreement with Riviera Beach to provide dune restoration,” co-chairs of the Singer Island Environmental Committee, Frank Fernandez and Melamud, wrote to commissioners.
During the past two winter seasons, the county did not add sand to the dunes along that milelong stretch. The county does not have plans to put sand on Singer Island’s ocean shore this year either.
Spiritis, who represents Singer Island, said the county is not upholding its end of a 10-year interlocal agreement with Riviera Beach.
Spiritis noted the county has a $9.5 billion annual budget, and he thinks it can afford to pay for the work. “I find it hard to believe that $1.7 million is going to break them,” he said.
In a 16-page response to the petition, county officials counter that the agreement does not require them to add sand on Singer Island. The county Department of Environmental Management listed several reasons it declined to pursue short-term restoration. They include:
- Difficult access to the affected beach because of Singer Island condominium private seawall construction projects.
- State and federal rules require that sand be placed on dry beach and there is little or no dry beach in the project area.
- Limited public access to the affected beach.
- Little expectation that the sand placed on the beach will stay in place more than a few months.
Since 2001, more than $21.7 million has been spent restoring dunes along 1.3 miles of beach on Singer Island, the report to county commissioners said.
“Any attempt to build dunes in the current conditions would be futile and would require use of tourist-based tax dollars that is difficult to justify,” the report concluded.
The response also states that the county tried to secure state money last season, but Singer Island did not rank high enough for the state’s Beach Management Funding Assistance Program.
The island’s low ranking is due to the state setting aside less money despite greater need.
Last year, the city placed sand on 500 yards of beach near the Seawinds and Via Delfino condominiums after county crews stopped working midway through the project because of seawalls and tidal conditions. This was the city’s first sand placement of that magnitude, Spiritis said.
Aiming to work everything out
The city’s engineering firm, Baird, estimates that the emergency work could cost $6 million.
Permitting takes three to four months. “There is a high likelihood of obtaining this permit,” the engineers said in their proposal.
The city aims to jump-start its emergency project before potential damage from the hurricane season, which starts Monday, further deteriorates the beach and harms coastal wildlife, Spiritis said.
To do this, the city is appealing to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to approve the placement of sand in certain areas during sea turtle nesting season. If the city does not get that approval, that would push the proposed work to Nov. 1.
The city has $1 million designated for sand placement and will obtain another $1 million after October, Spiritis said.
Spiritis also plans to meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to discuss other short-term solutions, including getting a waiver to dredge sand from the south to the north end of the beach.
“I believe that we’re going to work everything out,” Spiritis said. “We’re doing everything we can to protect the people on Singer Island and on the mainland.”
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
